Evermore Ranch
by Copperbell111
Summary: The world is ending and a huge storm has decimated America, Britain and France. They go to Canada, to a house they used to occupy when America and Canada were small, and as they wait for the world to end, they begin to reminiss about the past, and England is sure that the house is in fact haunted by something. Some FRUK and FACE family stuff.


**Listen to Big Enough by Kirin J Callinan, ft Alex Cameron, Molly Lewis and Jimmy Barnes**

* * *

The Evermore Ranch was a beautiful place in Canada, on the border with America and Lake Michigan, where Matthew Williams (Canada) lived alone. For many years he had kept the ranch in fantastic condition, just as it was in the old days of the colony. There were many rooms, a spacious basement and several little attic rooms, not to mention a few secret passages, and even areas that Matthew himself didn't know about. It had been designed by his older brother Arthur Kirkland (England) who, along with Francis Bonnefoy (France) had raised him and his twin brother Alfred, all those years ago. Well Arthur and Francis were gone, but Matthew was still there, tending to the beautiful country, and raising the horses and animals on the ranch. America had of course moved into his own property too, so the family was spilt up. However, Matthew felt so alone, so forgotten, even though his ranch was beautiful, and homely. He recalled how things used to be at Evermore, how they had all been a happy family at one time, till things went wrong.

That day, he was waiting for the family to come back, but it was not under good circumstances, it was because they had to come back, they had no other choice.

The day before, Matthew was woken in the early hours of the morning by the phone ringing and a panicking America on the other end.

"Matthew! Matthew!" he screamed "I got to get out of here! It's coming!"

"What's coming?" cried Matthew sitting up in bed alarmed. "What is it?"

"Can I come to your place? Please Matthew?"

"Yeah sure… but what's coming?"

America was silent for a few moments and there was this terrifying noise on the other end of the phone, like roaring. "It's a Tsunami Matthew…! The biggest one I've ever seen!"

"Of course you can come here, get out of there!" Matthew cried, as the phone went slient.

He turned on the news and saw the horror of a gigantic Tsunami, but apparently there was more to come, a violent storm that was going to devastate the whole of the United States, and they were expecting further storms all over the world.

"Goddammit!" he gasped in shock "What is going on here?"

Next he got a phone call from Arthur,and he was in as bad a state. "Matthew!" he cried "It's a catastrophe… I need to get out of here!" he screamed. In the background he could hear Francis panicking and crying, and things collapsing. As he turned the TV to the BBC news he saw a huge storm looming over Britain and France, also causing floods and devastation.

"Oh my God! Arthur, Francis, get here as soon as you can!"

"Thank you Matthew!" screamed Arthur.

"AAAARGH!" cried Francis, as something fell on him. Matthew listened in horror as England went to help him.

"Francis! Where are you?"

"I'm under zis beeg fridge freezer… I am alive, but I might be very badly hurt…" he wailed, as the phone went dead again.

"Oh God… I hope you can still get here with all that storm raging…" Matthew gasped looking at the phone.

Somehow, through the catastrophe and storms, Arthur and Francis had made it to Canada, also Alfred had made it, though they were all in a pretty bad state. Only Canada seemed to have missed the worst of the storms.

England and France arrived first to the Evermore ranch. Because the storms had knocked out their cars electrical systems, it didn't work, and they had to ride there on horses just like the old days. There was a smallish rainstorm over Canada but nothing like what was happening elsewhere in the world. Matthew greeted them when they entered the ranch house.

"Thank God you got here… " Matthew said as he hugged both of them. They were both soaked through to the skin, and didn't have anything with them as their possessions had been washed away in the storms over the Atlantic Ocean. "I saw the devastation on the news, I cam't believe it."

"It's awful Matthew…" wailed Francis. "And we had to get an airplane here, and half way through, it ended up in the ocean, we were rescued and…" he couldn't continue as he found it too traumatic. Arthur put his arm around him and hugged him. "It's alright Francis we made it… we made it…" he said.

"Oui.." he said and hugged him back. He was still quite traumatised and upset because the journey was so harrowing, but at least now they could get a shower and change of clothes. With Matthew's permission they made their way up to the old room they used to share a very long time ago.

Soon Alfred arrived, once again he had to ride there as the storm had made any other form of transport impossible. It was hard going but he got there in the end. He too had been through hell and high water to get to the ranch, but finally he got there, and once again Matthew let him in and he went up to his old room to shower and dry off.

Later they all sat down at the table just as they used to do when they were younger, when America and Canada were just young children, and England and France were taking care of them. It really was just like the old days. Matthew made them some hot drinks and made some dinner for everyone, and finally felt like he was important, like he had saved his family.

"What is happening in the world?" he asked. "It's like some horrible environmental disaster."

"I don't know…" Alfred uttered, staring into space. "The Eastern Seaboard has completely gone, and New York is no more… I really don't think there's much of my country left… who would have thought such a thing could happen?"

"How are you feeling Alfred?" Matthew said, realising that such a thing would be quite dangerous for his brother.

"It's hard to describe…" he said "I feel sort of empty…"

Both England and France looked worried for him, but they were also not in the best condition after the storm decimated both their countries too. "I heard on the news there are so many floods and disasters happening now at the same time." Arthur said, closing his eyes as if to try to block out everything.

"It is the end of the world." Francis uttered, looking thoroughly miserable. "But if it is the end of the world there is no place I would rather be than with you all…"

"You know… its strange but comforting to be back here in…our colonial home…" Arthur said after a sad silence and trying to make conversation. He was worried about Alfred and the state of the world too, but didn't want to dwell on impending doom. "Matthew you have kept the house in good condition… "

"Yes.. " Matthew replied. "I couldn't bear to leave it to rot… I want this to be a permenant reminder of how things were when we were young." he said "When we were a happy family."

"Where did we go wrong?" Francis sighed. "We were so happy here…. I remember…."

There was a silence for a while, and the sounds of the wind and rain outside seemed louder than they should have been.

"I still haven't explored this entire property, I mean with me being so busy and all being a nation…" Matthew said. "But I remember going down into the basement a long time ago when I was just a kid and… I could have sworn I saw…" he uttered and then stopped.

"Saw what?" Arthur asked curious. Anything to take his mind off the end of the world, and what could turn out to be the biggest environmental disaster anyone had ever seen.

"What did you see Matthew?" asked Francis.

"Yeah what was it?" Alfred asked. They all wanted to talk about something else, just so they wouldn't have to think about it. If it was the end of the world, then death would surely be just around the corner for all of them.

"I'm not sure… a pair of eyes in the darkness… like I was being watched… "

"Arthur frowned for a moment…" You know… I've always thought there was something in this house… he said as his memories came back to him. "Francis do you remember when we first moved here?"

"Oui…" he replied. "We were young and happy… and in love… it was a beautiful time…" he said as he reached out for Arthur's hand.

Matthew and Alfred saw that gesture and smiled, as they thought about how it used to be.

"So…so long ago…" Arthur sighed as he began to remember a time …long long ago…

* * *

A long time ago… spring time…

Arthur and Francis walked hand in hand, the two toddlers in front of them running up to the big house, that they had finally built and they were going to move in.

"It is a beautiful home." Arthur said as he wrapped an arm round Francis' waist. "We can be happy here, and bring up our little ones.

"Oui Mon Cher…" sighed Francis as he looked into his lover's eyes. "We have a home, and servants and everything we need… everything our boys need…

The house was gorgeous, with a lovely wooden porch, and a reasonably sized garden, at the foot of the mountains, there was an incredible forest and in the distance the lake completed the beauty of the landscape.

They made their way up to the front door and opened it, Alfred and Matthew ran inside giggling, eager to choose their rooms and explore the place.

"Wow it's fantastic!" Arthur said as he beheld the decor, and the size of the place. It was beautiful and classic, and very homely. Somehow, however, he felt there was something about the house, that he couldn't quite put his finger on. As if... it held secrets. However it was a new property, what secrets could it hold?

"Are you alright Mon Cher? You seem like you are lost in your thoughts..." Francis said.

"Oh.. I am fine..." he replied with a smile. "There's just something about this place... I don't know what exactly..."

To be continued…


End file.
